Journalists were (and still are) embedded in the US military forces in Iraq. But it was also the other way round: the Pentagon proves to be far more embedded in the US media than the public was to know.

How one thing lead to another: In spring 2006, several retired US generals started to speak up against the -then- US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld's handling of the Iraq war, calling for his resignation. In a desperate counteroffensive, the Pentagon called in the support of its "media embedded army" of military retirees hired by the US media as "analysts". This was done in such a flagrant way ignoring any sense for honesty and decency, that a number of the so-called analysts spoke up and opened up an even bigger can of worms:They revealed just how much the Pentagon had a grip on the media, where retirees eating out of the Rumsfeld's hand repeatedly used US government issued talking points as their own "expert" opinion, adding direct credibility to misinformation the Pentagon was spreading. (Full article)

Change Starts Here

Links

As the years went by, I collected a large amount of blogs and websites I like:

● The largest collection of blogs by fellow aidworkers you'll find anywhere
● Resources for aidworkers
● News sites specialized in aid, humanitarian work and nonprofit causes
● Expats, travellers, adventurers and people with their heart in the right place, you can find here